RATIO is a scaled control. The first half of the rotation goes from 1:1 to 1:10, and from 12 o’clock to fully clockwise, it goes from 1:10 to 1:1000 (infinite).

The SPEED knob controls both the attack and release of the dynamics. At fully anti-clockwise, attack is 5ms and release is 50ms. At fully clockwise, attack is 100ms and release is 500ms.

The MAKEUP knob adds gain to the final signal to compensate for attenuation in the compressor, from 0dB to +30dB. This leads directly to a soft-knee saturation stage; overdriving this stage provides everything from a mild “tube-like” saturation sound to full-on distortion, depending on the settings of the compressor stage.

The MODE switch determines the unit’s style of operation. In L/R mode, Kompressor is true stereo, while in M/SC mode, the LEFT input and output are the monophonic compressor. If a cable is plugged in to the RIGHT input, then the sidechain mode is activated, and the RIGHT input’s level controls the gain reduction. The RIGHT input signal is passed through to the RIGHT output, for convenience’s sake.

Kompressor is a DSP-based effect that runs at 48kHz sample rate and 24 bit depth, via a high quality Cirrus-Logic codec.